Actions behind words

I read something today (Author Unknown): "You cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind."  HOW GOOD IS THAT????  This morning I was thinking about going on the bike.  Thinking about yesterday got me nowhere.  So - still in my nightgown - but with my shoes on - I rode my bike for the requisite 20 minutes.  Granted I wasn't huffing and puffing and NO WAY it earned 2 PP+... but I did it, marked it down in my activity journal, and then got dressed and started the rest of my day!

How often do we THINK about dieting, exercising, or anything...  Sometimes those thought materialize into action: I mean - you HAVE to think about something in order to do it, or set your ducks in a row in order to do something.  But my person experience is that more often the thoughts just fizzle out before they become actions. 

However, THIS time I'm starting to take action.  I did get myself into a WW meeting, but more importantly, I am doing what I need to do for success: weigh, measure, TRACK, move, etc.  I still have thought behind it (what should I eat -> cook -> prepare -> shop) - you can't have action without thought.  The trick is to not just sit around ONLY thinking. 

So people - PLOW YOUR FIELDS FOR REAL!!!!!!

Miriam

Using Food Activities for GOOD!

I had a friend tell me the other day that I invest way too much time, thought, and activity in food - planning, shopping, cooking, storing (I'm always in Home Goods looking for the perfect containers!), etc.  I had to think about it and she was right.  Now that I have stopped teaching so many hours a week, it really has become my primary "outside" activity and hobby - but really it always was.  I did have to stop watching cooking shows and reading cookbooks, though, because those activities alone would trigger a need to eat even if I was not hungry (as did TV commercials for food - I had to develop the habit of changing the channel during a food commercial). 

However, when I really thought about what she said I had to realize that being a "slave" to that "hobby" has, in effect, given me freedom.  When I make out my menu plans for the week, make my shopping list, spend 1-2 hours on a Saturday afternoon grocery shopping, and HOURS cooking on Sunday, what I have actually bought is the freedom to not have to "worry" about food for the rest of the week.  I know I have healthy and happy meals planned throughout the week, and I do not have to come home at the end of the day and THEN start to prepare and cook... which always lands up being no good.  Because, instead of preparing and cooking (even if I have already decided what I want and have what I need in the kitchen) I eat my way through the kitchen - regardless of good intentions. 

I have decided that I owe no apologies for the way I approach my food activities.  It works for me.  It results in healthy eating and sensible shopping (I can't begin to tell you how my grocery bill can be close to double on the weeks I do not do my Saturday/Sunday food activities). I have to thank my WW leader for pointing that out to me last Saturday when I shared with the group what my friend said to me.  A favorite WW saying is:  "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."  It is SO true. 

I'm having a hungry day today.  Thank goodness for home-made vegetable soup in the fridge, and a draw full of washed and ready salad ingredients, and a container of grilled chicken! Make fun of me if you will, but it's all there... all ready... and I don't have to give dinner a second thought!

Miriam

First blog of the new year!

Hello everyone - Happy New Year!  I think my resolution this year is to not make any resolution other than do my best everyday to move towards health, and let the chips fall where they may.  (I never believed in weight loss goals - I figure if you eat healthy - and that includes portion control! - that your weight would come off at the rate it is meant to.)  So, as I mentioned in another blog way back - my new venture is to concentrate on the NEW ME part of this adventure.

I have done a lot of soul searching, and looking at the way I eat, the way I prefer to eat, and what fits into my lifestyle.  I like whole, wholesome foods, which is why Core/South Beach are so comfortable for me.  HOWEVER, in my many months since I declared my allegiance to that way of eating, I realized that I cannot do the basic tenet of each "diet" which is - if you eat that way you don't have to track, count, weigh, measure, etc.  Of course, also it assumes that you eat only when hungry and stop as soon as you are satisfied.  I actually didn't have too much problem with that... but I found I had two problems:  (1) either I didn't WANT to stop; or (2) I didn't eat enough and was constantly hungry.  So, alas... I have turned back to Weight Watchers.  And, not only that, I am doing the new Points Plus 2012 program.  I've given up my kicking and screaming, and figured - it is what it is - that's what is on eTools and since I enjoy using eTools then I will do it.  I will embrace it.  I actually went back to WW several weeks ago when the new program was rolled out and I am fine with it (I've lost 4 pounds in three weeks - I am a very slow loser, but I'll take it!).  I don't know why I wasn't fine with it when it came out in 2010.  I know it's all a mindset - maybe having had my surgery (and when the program was rolled out in 2010 a knee replacement wasn't even on the menu!) I have started to look at, and approach, things differently. You think? DUH

So anyway - here I am working on the NEW ME.  Although I don't do resolutions, I do have daily goals.  (Hmm... maybe I do have a resolution and its to stick to my daily goals?).  I want to use my stationary bike at least once a day for 20 minutes.  I think if I aim for 20 minutes, and not 30, that 10 minutes less makes a big difference in how my knee feels the next day, enabling me to do it daily.  I also have a daily goal of drinking 48 ounces of water every day.  I find that if I do those two things my eating is more in control.  The water and bike set the table for the rest of the day. I would love to do 20 minutes twice a day, but let's not push it!

Babs - thank you for your heartfelt comment on my previous blog.  I really do wish you the healthiest path through 2012.  I bet you can put off (or totally eliminate the need for) a knee replacement.  Wouldn't that be great?

Again - happy new year, and may you all find HEALTH in the coming year.

Miriam

The Revenge of Frankenstein

Probably last posting of the year... and boy has this year been quite a ride!  Let me start by thanking all of you for your comments and support.  I hope that this blog has been of some little help if you either have had a replacement yourself, are scheduled one, or are trying to avoid one!

So why "The Revenge of Frankenstein"?  When I get up from a chair and start to walk I feel like I am doing a darn good (but not on purpose) imitation of Frankenstein.  Lots of times I am walking near to normal - no limp, no listing to one side, no hesitation.  But, every once in a while, I do feel that if my skin were green and I had some bolts coming out of my neck you would do a double-take, thinking you were for sure seeing Frankenstein himself, walking down the street!  I can only be hopeful that my "steinish" walk will also improve as the months go by. 

In terms of discomfort - I still have that feeling that I have a bad scrape on my knee.  My guess is that I keep tearing tissue under the skin.  I am on the fence about calling the doctor - my guess is that, even if that's it, there's nothing I can do about it - he certainly won't want me to keep my knee still - that would have even worse results.  Meanwhile I've started using the stationary bike but not every day.  I think that's too much right now. 

So anyway, I want to wish you all a healthy, happy New Year - and my advice: TAKE CARE OF YOUR KNEES!!!!!!!   If taking off weight or strengthening your leg muscles will help avoid or put off a knee replacement, make that your ABSOLUTELY MOST IMPORTANT resolution this year!

Miriam

Am I dreaming?

Well it might be because what I noticed was in the wee hours of the night.  My knee isn't stiff when it's been bent and I have to straighten it --- and it's not stiff when it's been straight and I have to bend it.  I'm telling you... little things are so big!

Also - on the diet front I just want to share my "ah-ha" moment.  I was in the kitchen in the evening, and not even hungry - just "looking" - y'all know what I mean.  I had something in my hand and I put it down.  I said to myself - "Every decision I make has a consequence."    It wasn't just the consequence on the scale - because that is fleeting.  The deeper consequence was that, given my tendencies, I know that if I had the one thing, it would have lead to eating everything "not nailed down" in the kitchen.  Then I would have felt bad about myself.  Then I would have had to "start over" AGAIN.  I'm sick of starting over. 

However, having said that - wishing you a healthy, prosperous new year - where all your start overs are perfect!

Miriam

p.s. Sandy - I hope you enjoyed your trip to Disney.  Didn't I tell you the old-lady scooter would save you???

I may have turned a corner :)

Finally!  I can say that I have moved two steps forward and no steps back!  In terms of turning a corner, not a sharp right, not even a right fork... more like a very slight bearing to the right - but I'll take it.

I've noticed it as I've been taking the steps at my office up AND down, step-over-step.  Going down I have to hold on both sides (one side a railing and one side a wall).  I cannot do it if I don't have an anchor on both sides.  Going up I can hold on to just one side, and once in a while I try to do it with a "look Ma - no hands" sort of glee.  I think that as the stair-stepping gets better other things are as well.  Probably because I am getting stronger more than anything else. 

My endurance on my feet is better too.  I find that I can go grocery shopping and not be holding on to the cart for dear life by the time I make it to the check-out line.  I still do feel the swelling but it's not as massive and depressing as it had been.  What hasn't lifted at all is the numbness alongside the knee and part way down the leg.  Also, I still do look quizzically  at my knee, as it often feels as if it's been scraped, but the skin is just fine - the scrape is on the inside... weird...

I've been doing well with my dieting, and I'm hopeful that each ounce of weight loss will transfer to some relief to my knees.

Anyway - all is well, and things are looking up.  I have started taking Arthritis-Strength Tylenol since I can't take any NSAIDs.  So far so good - I think that has a bit to do with why I feel better as well.  So I'm almost at the 7-month mark, and finally feeling a little bit better about my decision to do the surgery.  I can't wait till I hit the 12-month or 18-month mark - I'm hopeful!

Miriam

Just my luck

I've recently been told by the doctor that I have to stay off NSAIDs (Advil, Aleve, Motrin, etc.).  I got my blood tests back from last week and I have low kidney function (thank heavens only a few numbers off from normal, so it very well be MY normal) - but he suspects it might be from the anti-inflammatories I've been living on since about 2003, and especially since I started them after my surgery.  The first few days were hard - especially since I had gone walking (only a mile ... but still...). 

I realized with the walking that even every other day is too much.  If I go walking once or twice a week it's all I can handle now.  I have been going up and down steps, though, step-over-step.  Not more than a flight at a time, but still I'm happy with that.  (And holding on, on both sides.)  And, I've been using my recumbent bike more often.  So, little by VERY little... at least I'm moving.

Diet-wise, I'm doing well.  With being on South Beach recently, I've been making the shift back to "clean eating" - I am finding that I just cannot follow RULES.  Suggestions, yes.  Guidelines, yes.  Rules - NO.  So I'm making my own... but within reason! lol Also, I've come to the decision that counting is counting - some days I do points, some days I do calories, some days I do food groups (just as a system of checks and balances).  I find that if I use any of these counting methods just to make sure I'm eating within a health range (not too much, not too little) I do well with my overall choices and portion decisions. 

I think that any diet works if you follow it.  What drives my choices is health, not diet rules.  I think rules are good - to a point.  Then you get someone like me who GAINS weight on a diet, and you know that I'm a fighter... lol  Not making an excuse not to diet - I actually AM, I'm just taking the best of everything and fashioning what is good for me.  A little WW, a little SB, a little ECD, etc. 

I guess I do have a few rules:
(1) NO JUNK
(2) NORMAL portions
(3) If it ain't hunger, food isn't gonna fix it
(4) Stop at two bites if my only need is to "have just a taste"

I can live with those!
Miriam